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Devlin named Penn State basketball director of player development

June 7, 2013

Devlin named Penn State basketball director of player development

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State coach Patrick Chambers announced Thursday (June 6) the appointment of Ryan Devlin, an eight-year veteran of the coaching profession, to the position of director of player development for the Nittany Lion basketball program.

Devlin comes to Penn State after four highly successful seasons as an assistant coach at the College of Southern Idaho where he helped guide a Golden Eagle program consistently ranked in the top 10 nationally to a 105-32 record, back-to-back Region 18 regular season and tournament championships and the 2011 NJCAA National Championship during his tenure. He helped coach four players that earned NJCAA All-America honors at Southern Idaho, including 2011 NJCAA Player of the Year Pierre Jackson who went on to lead the Big 12 in scoring and assists during a standout career at Baylor, as well as numerous players that went on to play Division I basketball.

"We are excited to welcome Ryan back to the state of Pennsylvania and to the Penn State program," Penn State coach Patrick Chambers said. "He has a proven record of success where ever he has been and is a terrific, hard working, energetic addition to our staff."

A 2005 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in social sciences, Devlin is making his fifth stop in career that spans eight years and three levels of coaching. Prior to his tenure at Southern Idaho, Devlin worked for a season at Montrose Christian School in Maryland. In one season at the powerhouse prep school, which he also attended for a year and is the alma mater of NBA All-Star Kevin Durant, he helped the team to a 21-3 record and was integral in the recruiting of top players such as current Toronto Raptor Terrence Ross (the No. 8 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft) and Villanova standout Mouphtaou Yarou to the school.

Devlin previously spent a season at Hagerstown Community College (Md.) serving first as an assistant coach and then becoming interim head coach at mid-season. He helped guide the team to a 23-8 record after the program posted an 8-22 mark in the previous campaign.

Devlin began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Bowling Brook Preparatory School in Maryland.

A native of Waynesboro, Pa., Devlin is a former Harrisburg Patriot News Big 15 Team selection at Waynesboro HS and was a standout pitcher who went on to pitch collegiately at Hagerstown Community College and the University of Pittsburgh. He comes to Penn State with his wife, Erin.

Penn State will return three of its top five scorers and rebounders from 2012-13 and the top two returning scorers in the Big Ten in guards D.J. Newbill (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Tim Frazier (Houston, Texas) who will form one of the most potent backcourts in the nation. Newbill, a rising junior, earned honorable-mention All-Big Ten honors while finishing fifth in the conference in scoring posting 16.3 ppg last year. Frazier, a first-team All-Big Ten selection in 2012 after finishing second in the Big Ten posting 18.8 ppg, received a medical hardship waiver from the NCAA and a fifth season of eligibility after playing in just four games in 2012-13 after suffering an Achilles tendon injury. Rising junior forward Ross Travis (Chaska, Minn.) is the second leading returning rebounder in the Big Ten after finishing fifth in the conference last year (7.4 rpg). He posted double-doubles in three of his last seven games and will join rising sophomore Brandon Taylor (Tabernacle, N.J.), who made 32 threes in his freshman season, to anchor the frontcourt. Penn State posted a 10-21 record, but knocked of No. 4-ranked and eventual NCAA Tournament runner-up Michigan (84-78) in late February in Chambers' second season at the helm.